Cane Caldo discusses the issue of mandatory paternity testing in his post Paternity and Bats in Oz. Given the controversy around mandatory paternity testing I propose what should be an uncontroversial change to the birth certificate application.
Today the birth certificate form asks the husband to certify that he is the child’s father. If a husband balks when confronted with this form, his wife indignantly asks:
What! Aren’t you sure?
To address the issue, I propose changing the birth certificate application form to allow the mother to check one of three options:
- I do not know who the father is.
- I believe _________________ is the father.
- I swear under penalty of law that ________________ is the father, and there is absolutely no possibility that another man fathered this child.
Make it a felony to fill out and sign the form with option 3 inaccurately. A paternity test proving that the man she named isn’t the biological father would be legally defined as proof of her falsely filling out the form, and is therefore evidence of a felony.
To those ladies who would object to this proposal I ask:
What! Aren’t you sure?
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